Portable and mobile electronic devices are commonly used for communication and entertainment purposes. The categories of portable and mobile electronic devices include devices such as smartphones, cellular phones, mobile communication devices, computers, tablet computers, phone-tablets (phablets), cameras, video players, audio players, electronic media readers, two-way radios, global positioning satellite (GPS) receiver devices, and/or other types of electronic computing or communication devices, including combinations thereof. The terms electronic device, mobile electronic device, portable electronic device, and device are used interchangeably herein to refer to any of these devices and/or any combination of these devices.
As the computational power and display capabilities of mobile electronic devices have increased, many new types of features and functions have been added to these devices. When Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) receivers were added to these devices, users and/or software applications running on the mobile electronic devices gained the ability to accurately determine the location of the device. GPS techniques provide many benefits when the mobile electronic device has a clear line of sight, or partially clear line of sight, to the sky. However, GPS techniques become limited in indoor environments because GPS signals are weak and typically cannot be detected or received in indoor environments.
As the use of portable electronic devices continues to increase, the desire to offer location based services (LBS) also increases. LBS are any type of electronic based services that include controls for location as control features in computer programs. LBS may include any type of service that determines or uses a location of one or more mobile electronic devices for purposes such as marketing, targeted marketing, location based marketing, entertainment, business applications, sports, health, social media, social marketing, navigation, transportation, gaming, emergency services, and/or safety. Many of these services involve activities or processes that are implemented indoors, partially indoors, or indoors under some circumstances.
In one example, a large retailer may wish to provide promotional information to a customer who is in the retailer's store. The retailer may wish to provide this information to the customer electronically and on a real time basis when the customer is in the store. Further, the retailer may wish to tailor the information based on a section of the store the customer is in and/or products the customer is near. In another example, an office located inside a large office complex may wish to provide a person real time navigational directions through the office complex in order to help the person more easily find the office. In yet another example, location based techniques may be used to help a visually impaired user navigate through an area using a mobile electronic device with audio or haptic feedback capabilities. Many other uses of location information are possible.
Some existing indoor positioning systems utilize beacons with little or no positioning accuracy. These systems are simply able to indicate whether an electronic device is within range of the particular beacon. In some cases, these systems may also generate a rough estimate of the distance of the electronic device from the beacon, but this estimate may be lacking is resolution or accuracy. In order to provide improved accuracy and/or more expansive coverage using known indoor position determination methods, a larger number of spatially distributed beacons must typically be used. However, using more beacons is undesirable due to increased equipment cost, increased installation costs, increased maintenance costs, and/or overall increased system complexity.
For the various reasons discussed above, there is demand for improved methods of providing indoor positioning and navigation capabilities. Improvements may lie in the areas of location accuracy, system simplicity, reduced system cost, simplified system implementation, and/or compatibility with existing capabilities. However, the apparatuses, techniques, and methods disclosed herein are not to be limited to any particular use or application.
There are multiple classes of stakeholders in indoor positioning and navigation technology. One class of stakeholders is the navigators or users of mobile devices who desire more accurate navigation and location information indoors. Another class of stakeholders is retailers and venue operators. This class of stakeholders stands to benefit from the ability to target market, target advertise, and/or provide other real time location relevant information to navigators. This class of stakeholders may also track the habits of navigators and generate data which relates navigator habits to sales or revenue data. In some situations, a party who monitors or generates this data may be separate from the party who is providing the products or services to the navigator. Another class of stakeholders is technology providers. Technology providers include hardware providers for indoor navigation, algorithm/application/software developers for navigation and data analytics, and/or original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), such as APPLE and SAMSUNG for example, who play an important role in helping other stakeholders gather and disseminate data.